An unvaccinated food hawker in Ranau, Sabah, has succeeded in including the Health Ministry in her legal challenge against a Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) imposed by the local district council.
The ministry is now the second respondent in Naomi @ Neomi Francis’ judicial review application. The Ranau District Council is the first respondent.
On Sept 27 last year, The Vibes reported that Naomi filed the legal action after she received a warning letter from the Ranau District Council to get vaccinated within a week if she wanted to avoid being fined heavily between RM2,000 to RM50,000.
When contacted this afternoon, the hawker’s counsel Marcel Jude confirmed that the Kota Kinabalu High Court yesterday allowed the application to amend the judicial review to add the ministry as a second respondent.
“Yesterday, judge Ismail Brahim allowed her (Naomi) application to add KKM (Bahasa Malaysia acronym for Health Ministry) into the judicial review.
“This is a major step as the KKM is now a party in the proceedings that initially only targeted the (Ranau) district council,” Marcel said.
The lawyer added that the court will later set a date to hear the merits of the judicial review.
‘Covid-19 restrictions unconstitutional’
On Nov 7 last year, the New Straits Times reported that the High Court granted leave for Naomi to proceed with the judicial review (the court will later set a date to hear the legal action’s merits).
Through the judicial review, Naomi claimed that all Covid-19 restrictions on unvaccinated individuals contravened the Federal Constitution, which is the supreme law of Malaysia.
The 56-year-old contended that she was representing all who want to protect their liberty of having the choice to turn down the vaccine, and not face discrimination for their decision.
She alleged that Article 5 of the Federal Constitution states that no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty, save in accordance with the law, and Article 8 states that all persons are equal before the law and entitled to equal protection of the law.
“Based on the said articles, the Sabah government is violating the Federal Constitution by not providing liberty to the people - whether they want to get vaccinated or not, discriminating between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals by providing more access to those who are vaccinated and denying access to those who have not been inoculated.
“I only want to fight for this; I want the government to stop imposing rules that are against the Federal Constitution,” she was quoted as saying.
Naomi added that she is at risk of losing her food and catering business if she is forced to pay an RM50,000 fine.
She claimed that while she was not an anti-vaxxer, she does not feel confident about getting inoculated against Covid-19, as she felt that there was a lack of medical studies and evidence on the matter, and is concerned about the side effects.
The mother of four said that her son, who is a medical assistant, and her sister, who is a nurse, have tried to persuade her to receive the vaccination, but to no avail.
“My husband and one of my children also have not taken the vaccine.
“When we first received the warning letter, my husband, a farmer who also helps me at the stall, said that he wants to ‘sacrifice’ for our family and take the vaccine.
“I cried when I heard that and told him not to take the vaccination unless he is sincere and truly wants to get vaccinated. I told him there must be other ways,” she added.
Not Naomi’s first rodeo
Previously, Naomi took numerous allegedly unfair decisions made by the Ranau District Council to the attention of the Local Government and Housing Ministry in 2014, 2016, and 2018.
These cases involved violations of the Ranau District Council (Markets) By-Laws 1963 as rental fees and rented stalls to non-bumiputera traders in the market were increased by the council, with Naomi persuading the council to retract their decisions without going to court.
Naomi expressed hope that this round of legal action will help Sabahans who have been denied entry into various premises - including teachers, business owners, and other government staff - and face action from the government for not getting inoculated.
Studies have found that the protection one gets after being infected by Covid-19 can last many months. However, the immune response is not as consistent as what one gets from vaccination.
One study in the US found that unvaccinated people who were previously infected by Covid-19 still had a 2.34 times higher risk of a new infection compared to fully vaccinated people.
The Sabah government ordered that only fully vaccinated individuals are allowed to enter business premises, including owners and staff, beginning Sept 21.
A one-month grace period was given by the state government before the new set of Covid-19 restrictions was fully imposed. - Mkini
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